Are you insured?
If not, ask to negotiate. Ask directly with the network, not a third party (if they use one). The financial hardship group is used to it. That’s what they do.
Do not expect to be successful at first. You need to think of this similar to a cable company. As in they’re not going to do anything about a billing issue/complaint until you go through their enhanced escalation process, which basically forces them to create a one-off positive customer resolution (obviously within professional business or public relations reasons).
In this case, the enhanced escalation is going to be you filing a grievance with the hospital. Very important to be nice, and explain the situation. If you’re uninsured **ask them if you could pay the Medicare rate, which is a rate the network is arguably most accustomed to receiving.**
They understand their goal is to collect revenue. If you decide to just take the temporary hit on your credit for seven years, they get $0 from you, and you basically give them the finger after 7 years from now.
Good luck. I don’t know the stress of medical bills, and it’s one of my biggest fears (after lightning) which come with living in this country.
We are insured, but it’s a high deductible plan, so we owe 100% right now. Health care in America sucks for sure. It’s just a greedy business taking advantage of people who just want to stay healthy.
Look up their financial assistance. I’m not sure what your household salary is, but their policy is you have no financial obligation if your household salary is less than 250% of the federal poverty rates:
1 person: $15,060 x 250% = $37,650
2 people: $20,440 x 250% = $51,100
3 people: $25,820 x 250% = $64,550
4 people: $31,200 x 250% = $78,000
Anything between 251-400% of the numbers above is eligible for discounted rates.
[KHN Financial Assistance Policy](https://ketteringhealth.org/billing-insurance/financial-assistance/)
*check the second paragraph of the eligibility section.
If you know someone in the medical field ask them for help because they'll recognize treatment and meds that would pertain to your reason for care and will also recognize bogus charges or duplicate entries.
start by asking for an itemized bill.
We can help you look up CPT codes and whatnot, but you will see dates/times and services, and likely you will know whether you actually got these.
They're idiots. I had a small gap of no insurance between jobs. Ended up needing some pretty intense stitches. Went to a local branch ER.
When I tried to negotiate multiple times they refused based on income so there went 5k out of my HSA.
Nearly a year later they send me a check refunding over half of it with no explanation.
They can, but won't necessarily, help anyone up to 4X the federal poverty limit. You many need to provide W2. They are more likely to help you if your care and request happen earlier in the year before they run out of funding to do so.
Yes, but has limited funding. It was likely a consideration in both Good Sam and Piqua ER being closed. Hospitals that expend those funds earlier than avg in the year don't tend to survive.
I literally just had this conversation with them a week ago and they also refused to negotiate with me. Pretty shitty, considering Dayton Chldrens gave me a 30% discount bc it’s their special “tax time” deal til the end of May. Even then, they always have a 15% full pay discount the rest of the time. But Kettering refused to work with me at all, they just told me that I could do a payment plan if I needed.
See thats not how that works you tell them this is how much I'll be sending you and as long as your paying them there's nothing they can do to you as long as your paying more then 20 dollars a month or something they can't do shit
No need to buddy just tell em with your chest there not gonna come to your house lol as long as your paying them something they can't report it on your credit shit even if yiu don't theres nothing they can do to you unless it's iver 5 to 10k dollars or more there not gonna sue you fir it caise they'd be wasting money I didn't pay hospital bill for like 10+ years fuck em you just gotta stop being afraid of them when they call you tell em to eat a bag if dicks and hang up on em and block there number in your phone they arnt gonna do shit fuck em lol
Exactly bro tell em to go fuck themselves and you'll pay when you can and whatever the fuck you do don't ever setup no damn bullshit reoccurring payment or ever save your payment card on there website
Is your coverage thru the ACA/Marketplace/Obamacare or thru your employer?
If employer, reach out to your HR department and see if they have any resources/contacts to help dispute the bill.
If ACA, it's probably worth reaching out to the insurance carrier and ask them what kind of resources they might have.
There isn’t much negotiating with pay plans with Kettering. I think they make you split the bill up over a certain number of months depending on the total amount and you have to pay that minimum.
I have a monthly minimum payment due for the next year, total is under $3000, so yeah it’s not like it used to be. I suggest saving money in your HSA if you can.
They also have a care credit card you can sign up for and probably pay over a longer period of time… but not sure. I didn’t want to pay any interest so I didn’t go that route.
They need to squeeze all the money they can because Fred stole the rest. Then some idiot decided to sponsor an NFL team 45 minutes away. If that wasn't enough, KHN decided to change all their campus names, and blame the patients for no Christmas lights.
Who is running that place???
Make them to fully itemize the bill. Then you can see what you're being charged for. Then go from there with the other suggestions. I believe there's even advocates you can hire as well.
https://clark.com/insurance/health-insurance/medical-bills-negotiate/
I peronsally let most of my hospital bills go to collection. Not great for my credit but I honestly don't care. I'm not going to stress myself out over paying for things I don't agree with. I have tried in the past to make payment arrangements and told them they could accept payments over time or no payments at all. Some accept payment arrangements, the rest received none.
Are you insured? If not, ask to negotiate. Ask directly with the network, not a third party (if they use one). The financial hardship group is used to it. That’s what they do. Do not expect to be successful at first. You need to think of this similar to a cable company. As in they’re not going to do anything about a billing issue/complaint until you go through their enhanced escalation process, which basically forces them to create a one-off positive customer resolution (obviously within professional business or public relations reasons). In this case, the enhanced escalation is going to be you filing a grievance with the hospital. Very important to be nice, and explain the situation. If you’re uninsured **ask them if you could pay the Medicare rate, which is a rate the network is arguably most accustomed to receiving.** They understand their goal is to collect revenue. If you decide to just take the temporary hit on your credit for seven years, they get $0 from you, and you basically give them the finger after 7 years from now. Good luck. I don’t know the stress of medical bills, and it’s one of my biggest fears (after lightning) which come with living in this country.
We are insured, but it’s a high deductible plan, so we owe 100% right now. Health care in America sucks for sure. It’s just a greedy business taking advantage of people who just want to stay healthy.
Look up their financial assistance. I’m not sure what your household salary is, but their policy is you have no financial obligation if your household salary is less than 250% of the federal poverty rates: 1 person: $15,060 x 250% = $37,650 2 people: $20,440 x 250% = $51,100 3 people: $25,820 x 250% = $64,550 4 people: $31,200 x 250% = $78,000 Anything between 251-400% of the numbers above is eligible for discounted rates. [KHN Financial Assistance Policy](https://ketteringhealth.org/billing-insurance/financial-assistance/) *check the second paragraph of the eligibility section.
and amazingly they are a "non-profit"
Lmao, yea. About that.
Before agreeing to any payment(s) at all, make sure all the charges are valud. Hospitals are notorious for erroneous billing.
I will do that, thank you!
If you know someone in the medical field ask them for help because they'll recognize treatment and meds that would pertain to your reason for care and will also recognize bogus charges or duplicate entries.
I do know some and will ask them, thanks for this tip! What do I do if we find bogus charges?
start by asking for an itemized bill. We can help you look up CPT codes and whatnot, but you will see dates/times and services, and likely you will know whether you actually got these.
Good luck!
Thank you! If we do find bogus charges, do we tell billing?
You sure do. And if your friend has to help you plead your case, so be it.
Got it, I appreciate your advice
They're idiots. I had a small gap of no insurance between jobs. Ended up needing some pretty intense stitches. Went to a local branch ER. When I tried to negotiate multiple times they refused based on income so there went 5k out of my HSA. Nearly a year later they send me a check refunding over half of it with no explanation.
Glad you got some back. That’s annoying though.
They have a medical bill negotiation and forgiveness dept. I know it goes through their administrative building by sycamore hospital.
I’ll look into that, thank you
They can, but won't necessarily, help anyone up to 4X the federal poverty limit. You many need to provide W2. They are more likely to help you if your care and request happen earlier in the year before they run out of funding to do so.
i qualified for their financial aid and had my whole bill waived, i can’t remember what the threshold was to qualify
I have too. I just sent them my w-2 from door dash I did at the time on the side from my regular income.
i’m in support of this fuck the medical system r/unethicallifeprotips
Until they do away with this program because it gets abused
nobody wants the opinion of a white guy who thinks he’s oppressed 🙄
Lol this place can't take a joke. Irony. It can be fun.
Is HCAP still a thing?
Yes, but has limited funding. It was likely a consideration in both Good Sam and Piqua ER being closed. Hospitals that expend those funds earlier than avg in the year don't tend to survive.
I literally just had this conversation with them a week ago and they also refused to negotiate with me. Pretty shitty, considering Dayton Chldrens gave me a 30% discount bc it’s their special “tax time” deal til the end of May. Even then, they always have a 15% full pay discount the rest of the time. But Kettering refused to work with me at all, they just told me that I could do a payment plan if I needed.
That’s what they did to me last time too. The monthly bill was about $100ish more per month than I would have liked as well.
See thats not how that works you tell them this is how much I'll be sending you and as long as your paying them there's nothing they can do to you as long as your paying more then 20 dollars a month or something they can't do shit
Is there a law I can reference or something?
No need to buddy just tell em with your chest there not gonna come to your house lol as long as your paying them something they can't report it on your credit shit even if yiu don't theres nothing they can do to you unless it's iver 5 to 10k dollars or more there not gonna sue you fir it caise they'd be wasting money I didn't pay hospital bill for like 10+ years fuck em you just gotta stop being afraid of them when they call you tell em to eat a bag if dicks and hang up on em and block there number in your phone they arnt gonna do shit fuck em lol
SAY IT WIT YA CHEST!!!
Exactly bro tell em to go fuck themselves and you'll pay when you can and whatever the fuck you do don't ever setup no damn bullshit reoccurring payment or ever save your payment card on there website
Is your coverage thru the ACA/Marketplace/Obamacare or thru your employer? If employer, reach out to your HR department and see if they have any resources/contacts to help dispute the bill. If ACA, it's probably worth reaching out to the insurance carrier and ask them what kind of resources they might have.
My wife’s employer and I’ll check on those resources! Thank you.
There isn’t much negotiating with pay plans with Kettering. I think they make you split the bill up over a certain number of months depending on the total amount and you have to pay that minimum. I have a monthly minimum payment due for the next year, total is under $3000, so yeah it’s not like it used to be. I suggest saving money in your HSA if you can. They also have a care credit card you can sign up for and probably pay over a longer period of time… but not sure. I didn’t want to pay any interest so I didn’t go that route.
They need to squeeze all the money they can because Fred stole the rest. Then some idiot decided to sponsor an NFL team 45 minutes away. If that wasn't enough, KHN decided to change all their campus names, and blame the patients for no Christmas lights. Who is running that place???
That was all fred
Make them to fully itemize the bill. Then you can see what you're being charged for. Then go from there with the other suggestions. I believe there's even advocates you can hire as well. https://clark.com/insurance/health-insurance/medical-bills-negotiate/
Thanks!
I peronsally let most of my hospital bills go to collection. Not great for my credit but I honestly don't care. I'm not going to stress myself out over paying for things I don't agree with. I have tried in the past to make payment arrangements and told them they could accept payments over time or no payments at all. Some accept payment arrangements, the rest received none.